“I think I’ll wait my turn,” Anastasia said, sighing. “The rest would be a come-down, I’m sure.”
“Can’t find out unless you check,” Mike pointed out. “I’ll go get Katya and have a little chat. Have Klavdiya meet me in my suite at dinner.”
“Damnit, Kat,” Mike said when the obviously apprehensive hooker was seated in his office, “do you want me to have to put you down?”
“I am trying not to be a problem, Kildar,” Katya said, sniffling and dropping her head.
“Oh, quit the act,” Mike said, sharply. “We both know it is one. I won’t ask you the last time you actually cried.”
“A long time ago,” Katya said. Her head came up and she gave him a poisonous look. “It doesn’t do you a bit of good.”
“Well, you’re screwing up my harem and I won’t have it,” Mike said. “But that’s the only place where there are classes you can attend…”
“I hate them,” Katya said, angrily. “All the other girls are so slow!”
Mike started to open his mouth, then closed it. He gave the situation some thought and then blew out, angrily.
“Okay, in addition to a dozen other duties I have, I’m making you my personal project,” Mike said. “That does not, by the way, mean that you’re going to be having sex with me. But I’ll undertake to instruct you. How far along are you in reading?”
“I can read well in Russian,” Katya said, carefully. “I don’t know all the words…”
“Ever heard of a dictionary?” Mike asked. “I’m not going to be nice about teaching you, by the way.”
“We don’t have a Russian dictionary,” Kat snapped back. “Or, yes, I’d look the words up.”
“I know we’ve got one around somewhere,” Mike said, making a note on a pad. “But I’ll order a few. What about English?”
“Only speak little,” Kat said in broken English. “Not read well.”
“Next project,” Mike said, nodding. “You need to get English down. It’s the de facto international language. As of now, you’re my assistant. Did you understand that?”
“Yes,” Katya answered in English.
“I need a list of the girls who have not been broached,” Mike said. “I want to spend a week with each of them. Make up a list and a calendar. I’m going to run it by Anastasia before I go with it, though. If you figure out some way to make trouble doing that, and it’s obvious, I will beat the hell out of you. Understand?”
“Yes, Kildar,” Katya said, frowning.
“Here’s a Day-Timer,” Mike said, digging in his desk and finding one he’d picked up free with some office supply orders. “I want you to, in general, have the girls lined up in reverse order of age, that is the oldest ones first. None who are under sixteen. Did you get that?”
“Yes, Kildar,” Katya replied.
“Repeat it,” Mike said. “In English.”
“To make schedule,” Katya said, carefully. “Oldest girls to go first. One per week. Younger be sixteen.”
“The youngest to be sixteen,” Mike corrected. “Start with Klavdiya, though. And after lunch, meet me in the workout room. If you’re going to be my assistant, you’re going to be training with me all the way. Go work on the schedule for now. When you’re not working with me, go down to the intel section and talk English with Vanner in his free time. Got it?”
“Yes, Kildar,” Katya said.
“Take off,” Mike said, turning to his paperwork. “And don’t get in trouble.”
Mike ate a sandwich for lunch and then changed into workout gear and headed down to the weight room. When he got there, Katya was waiting.
“I have the schedule, Kildar,” Katya said, handing him the Day-Timer. “I have listed all the girls in reverse order of age, with Klavdiya first.”
“Okay,” Mike said, flipping through the book and sighing. “We’re going to work out together, then we’ll go do some shooting. Go change into shorts and a T-shirt for this. I suppose you could work out in a skirt, but it’s not normal.”
Mike was through his warm-up when the girl got back to the room. He looked her over and nodded.
“Your thighs are pretty solid,” Mike said. “We’ll start today working on upper body.”
“Yes, Kildar,” Katya said, puzzled.
“You need to warm up, first,” Mike said, leading her over to the cross-trainer. He showed her how to use it and set it for a fifteen-minute light course. “When the time runs out, we’ll start warming up your upper body; this is just to get your heart working.”
He moved over to the circuit training and dialed in his settings, then started pumping. He’d barely gotten through the triceps workout when Kat was done. He showed her how to reset the Nautilus machines and gave her a general weight range to work with. She noticed that he was moving at least five times her workout weight.
“Are you set me low to keep from making strong?” Kat asked, looking at him coldly.
“You have to start low,” Mike said just as coldly. “I’ll build you up to the max you’re good for. But if you think you’re going to pump my level, ever, you’re sadly mistaken. You can go ahead and try if you’d like,” he added with a grin.
They worked on the circuit for an hour, a light workout for him but about as much as Kat could take on her first day.
“Arms tired,” Katya said, working her shoulders. She had sweat dripping down her face and wiped at it with a towel.
“You just thought you were in shape,” Mike said, grinning. “Come on.”
He led her down the corridor to a room at the far end from the intel room that had been set up as a dojo, where there were punching bags and floor pads.
“I’m going to show you a few fight moves,” Mike said. “If you use them on the girls…”
“I’m in trouble,” Kat said, nodding.
“When I start working the girls, I’ll bring them in for this as well,” Mike noted. “But you’ll be doing this most of the time. In time, you’ll be helping to train.”
“Yes, Kildar,” Kat said. “Thank you.”
“Most people, when they fight with hands, use a closed fist,” Mike said, handing her a pair of fighting gloves. “Like this,” he said, punching a bag with his fist. “And they punch to the target. Try to hit the surface. You understand?”
“Yes,” Katya said, frowning.
“Better to use the open palm,” Mike said, opening up his hand and pointing to the base of the his palm. “Curve the fingers, hit at the base of your palm. That has the bones of your arm lined up with the target and it transmits more power. It also won’t break your fingers, which hitting with a closed fist will do. And hit through the target,” he continued, striking the bag hard. “The important thing is the speed of the strike. You must do it over and over again, learn to strike very fast, like a snake, and hard. Work on that for now,” he said, stepping away from the bag. “Hard and fast.”
She stepped up to the bag and punched it, hard, with an open-hand right hand.
“Harder,” Mike said. “And faster. Think of someone you hate, me if you want. And punch through the bag,” he continued, pointing to the middle of the bag. “Try to get your hand through to here.”